what to expect Saturday

I got to see several spring and fall practices, so I thought I'd offer what I expect. TIFWIW.

I'd expect the offense to struggle. I think it's a tall order to revamp the offense and come out clicking from game 1. There will be some struggles. Check out the Utah vs. Montana State game tonight to see how Utah clicks with their new power running game - pro style offense.

The Buffs return a lot of guys on offense, really only losing 3 key contributors (Solder, Iltis, McKnight). All in all, another year of experience for all the other players adds up to a pretty experienced group who should make the transition to a new offensive style less painful. Still, I'd expect some struggles early on under a new system. Especially given the centers will be seeing their first game experience. The new offense needs the Buffs to control the LOS. I'd expect this to happen, but not with the consistency we would like to see, at least not this early in the season. First down success will be huge for the Buffs.

I'd expect the defense to bend and not break. The run-n-shoot offense from Hawaii will rack up yards. Contain Hawaii from scoring long TD's and force them to score when the field is shorter, and the offense often struggles, thanks to "less space". Good solid tackling is key, as well as being assignment sound. If the Buffs can do that, they'll give up yards, but keep the score under control. Hope Embree had a lot of live tackling this week, because I've seen a lot of teams who don't do live hitting come out and tackle poorly.

Defensively, CU should have much improved pass rush. It looked awesome throughout the fall. Hartigan and Uzo-Diribe can get after it from the edge. Obi and Pericek are no slouches inside, nor is Cunningham. All of these guys can move. Rippy, Webb, and Major are very athletic and fast. Mahnke also is a very mobile LB and is used often. Hawaii utilizes a lot of quick throws, which will serve to combat this to some extent. I'd expect CU to try to get in the QB's head early and often with some blitz schemes. We will see a lot of 5 and 6 DB packages.

The Buff defense looked way ahead of the offense throughout the fall open practices. There was no live hitting the QB, but the defense was in Hansen's face a lot. Hope this says more about our defense than our offense...

Breakout playmakers offense:
Harrington at Fullback. You're going to like him.
Deehan - we use the TE a lot.
Paul Richardson - he really looks unstoppable. His trajectory last season was up and to the right and fall-ball indications show no change.
Dark Horse: Josh Ford. This guy just gets yards when he's in there. If he plays, it will be interesting to see if he really has a knack for finding the hole or if he's a practice superstar.

Breakout playmakers defense:
Everyone. It's a unit. I expect our pass rush guys to standout against a young Hawaii OL. But look for the DB's to tackle and stay assignment correct as the key. If we can get some pressure on the QB as we did last year, he will throw it up for grabs from time to time. Our pass rush will prevent him from having a lot of time in general. Expect a lot of 3 step drops and we will see if our guys can make sure tackles.